Auto Suggestions are available once you type at least 3 letters. Use up arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+up arrow) and down arrow (for mozilla firefox browser alt+down arrow) to review and enter to select.

Temporarily Out of Stock Online

Overview

In this lively exploration of America’s intellectual heritage, acclaimed poet, novelist, and critic Jay Parini celebrates the life and times of thirteen books that helped shape the American psyche.

Moving nimbly between the great watersheds in American letters—including Walden, Huckleberry Finn, The Souls of Black Folk, and On the Road—Parini demonstrates how these books entered American life and altered how we think and act in the world. An immensely readable and vibrant work of cultural history, Promised Land exposes the rich literary foundation of our culture, and is sure to appeal to all book lovers and students of the American character alike.

Product Details

About the Author

Jay Parini, a poet and novelist, teaches at Middlebury College in Vermont. His novels include The Apprentice Lover, Benjamin’s Crossing,andThe Last Station (now a major motion picture). His fifth volume of poetry was The Art of Subtraction: New and Selected Poems (2005). He has written biographies of John Steinbeck, Robert Frost, and William Faulkner, in addition to The Art of Teaching (2005)andWhy Poetry Matters (2008). His reviews and essays appear frequently in major periodicals, including The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Guardian. He lives in Vermont.

Read an Excerpt

ONEOf Plymouth Plantation

I.Every nation has a founding myth, or myths: stories that talk of bright but challenging beginnings, portraying the drama of self-definition and establishment. The United States, with its complex origins and mixed identities, has many such myths, but among them is a primary text in the story of American colonial life: William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation, a journal written between 1620 and 1647. It tells the story of the original Pilgrims, who came to Plymouth in Massachusetts from northern England, via the Netherlands, on the Mayflower in 1620. The historical importance of this journal cannot be exaggerated. Apart from being a vivid account of what happened, it has immense credibility, having been written by a man who was an active agent (as governor) in the story itself.The adventures and misadventures of the Pilgrims form the core of Bradford's journal, which recounts a thoroughly absorbing story about a people who managed against the odds to pull together for the sake of their community, to get control over their own rebels and malcontents, and to make peace among themselves and with the native population, the Wampanoag, with whom (after a difficult year of illness and privation, which reduced their numbers almost by half) they shared what has become known as the first Thanksgiving: a celebration of mutual interests. Although the exact nature of this event, a harvest festival that occurred in the fall of 1621, has relatively little in common with the mythic tale most Americans hear about in elementary school, it has become a legend, one of those primal stories that have shaped our sense of who we are.

II.America was sorely in need of some mythic tale about itself when, in 1855, the manuscript of Bradford's journal was discovered in the library of Fulham Palace, on the Thames, a summer retreat for London bishops. A traveler called John Wingate Thornton from Boston found it by chance. He was a man described by one acquaintance as "an accomplished antiquary and a delightful gentleman." He recognized passages by Bradford quoted in another book, which contained a note about the full manuscript and its whereabouts. His discovery must be considered one of the great literary finds.

Although missing for such a long time, the journal was not unknown. Passages from Bradford had been widely circulated for two centuries, with extracts in the records at Plymouth. Early historians, such as Thomas Prince and William Hubbard, apparently had the manuscript in hand when they wrote their classic accounts of the Plymouth Colony. But the complete worka handwritten journalhad disappeared, having been carried to England at some point, where it lay in dusty obscurity until Thornton unearthed it. He laboriously copied the work in full, then published it in the United States in 1856, attracting huge attention in the disunited states of that era, when the Civil War loomed offstage, but only just. Anyone could see that serious conflict lay ahead, though a savage and relentless war could hardly be imagined. It would take the outright slaughter of Antietam and Gettysburg for that reality to dawn in full.

In the 1850s, there was also a good deal of anxiety in the air about westward expansion. Lewis and Clark made their journey to the Pacific coast and back to St. Louis at the beginning of the century, and excitement over the West grew as Americans learned more about the abundant regions that lay on the other side of the Mississippi. The region beckoned to young men and women, who dreamed of wealth and adventure. Parents, as ever, worried about losing touch with their childrenthis was well before electronic communications shrank the distances that now commonly separate families. The snugness of colonial New England or Virginia was gone forever, and it seemed difficult to imagine a nation that could embrace large tracts of land as well as a restive population of Native American tribes, including the Apache, Blackfoot, Cherokee, and Cheyenne nations. Certainly it was hard to believe that numerous Mexicans could be absorbed in Texas and California, which had only just acquired statehood.

Bradford's account of the early Pilgrim adventures offered an alternative reality, a world in which fiercely united and determined men and women put their faith firmly in the will of God. They reveled in their independence from the Church of England and its hierarchies, which had forced them into exile in Holland. Unlike other Puritans who settled in New England (mostly in Massachusetts), these were the hard core, known as Separatists. They did not believe in trying to reform the Anglican church from within, as did most Puritans. They might well have remained in Leyden, where most of them were concentrated, had poverty as well as the prospect of Holland being overrun by Spanish Catholics not prompted them to set off for the New World.

We would have known relatively little about the Pilgrims of Plymouth had William Bradford (1590-1657) never kept a journal. He was present at every phase of the project, from the initial separation from England and removal to Leyden through the great journey on the Mayflower across the Atlantic, the establishment of the Plymouth settlement, its trials and triumphs, and its eventual decline as children of the original settlers lost faith in the overall projectmuch to Bradford's dismay.

As he was only human, Bradford skewed his account in favor of his own interests and friends. Of course he had the incomparable advantage, as historian, of being a player in the events described, with enviable access to everything that happened. He ran the inner council at Plymouth, so he knew what people said, even why they said it. As chronicler, he tended to dwell on things that interested him or showed him in a particularly good lightit's his journal, after all; he could (as he chose) suppress whatever displeased him. Historians have noted that he passes over many things in silence or, on rare occasions, alters the sequence of events. Bradford did not like opposition and dealt fiercely with those who displeased or countered him. Nevertheless, his account is noticeably balanced and scrupulous. In general, his account of the Plymouth Colony is without rival as a precious early document on this important subject.

III.From the outset, Bradford assumes a reserved, ironic tone, quite in contrast to one notable outburst scribbled in the margins of the document after it was finished, where he registers a wail of disapproval for the younger generation:

O sacred bond, whilst inviolably preserved! How sweet and precious were the fruits that flowed from the same! But when this fidelity decayed, then their ruin approached. O that these ancient members had not died or been dissipated (if it had been the will of God) or else that this holy care and constant faithfulness had still lived, and remained with those that survived, and were in times afterwards added unto them. But (alas) that subtle serpent hath slyly wound in himself under fair pretences of necessity and the like, to untwist these sacred bonds and ties, and as it were insensibly by degrees to dissolve, or in a great measure to weaken the same. I have been happy, in my first times, to see, and with much comfort to enjoy, the blessed fruits of this sweet communion, but it is now a part of my misery in old age, to find and feel the decay and want thereof (in a great measure) and with grief and sorrow of heart to lament and bewail the same. And for others' warning and admonition, and my own humiliation, do I here note the same. (xvi)

As this note amply suggests, Bradford felt a visceral disappointment with the younger colonists, who seemed willfully ignorant of their history and failed to realize the sacrifice of their parents and grandparents, who risked their lives for a cause of conscience, a dream of community. But this marginal outburst stands in contrast to the journal itself, where the author writes with coolheaded grace, relying on what happened to inform his prose, a tale that required no embellishment.Indeed, in the first paragraph he says he plans to write "in a plain style, with singular regard unto the simple truth in all things" or "at least as near as my slender judgment can attain the same" (1). He succeeds well at this, beginning in the reflective mode, with a chapter on Separatism. The basic idea, as he frames it, was to convince English churches to "revert to their ancient purity and recover their primitive order, liberty and beauty" (2). The Separatists formed a minority sect among the Puritans, itself a fringe of the Protestant Reformation, which had convulsed Europe in the sixteenth century. The church at Scrooby, in the English county of Nottinghamshire, was among the most radical of Puritan churches.

It was there that William Brewster, a friend and mentor to William Bradford, spread his Separatist views as minister to a younger generation. Brewster had gone to Cambridge University, where he came under the influence of Robert Browne, a founding theologian of the Puritan movement. Browne published two seminal books in 1582: A Treatise of Reformation Without Tarying for Anie and A Booke Which Sheweth the Life and Manners of All True Christians. In these stringent, influential works, Browne argued that one could not afford to wait for the state to take actionas John Calvin, a leading Puritan figure on the Continent, had suggested. Browne believed it was the duty of the individual to act according to what he or she felt was right, whatever the state thought. He was fond of quoting Saint Paul on this point: "Come out from among them, and be ye separate, said the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing" (2 Corinthians 6:17). This single verse provided the biblical foundation for Separatism.

There was, as one might guess, fierce resistance to the Puritan movement in England, and many of its leading lights were imprisoned or executed, driving the hard core of believers abroad for safety. By 1607, the political waters for religious rebels had reached a boiling point, and many from the Scrooby congregation found themselves under warrant for arrest. Not surprisingly, Bradford begins Of Plymouth Plantation here, with a tale of dispossession. His narrative is very much written like an Old Testament story, where God's people are driven off their land, suffer exile among heathens, and go off in search of their own promised land in the New World. The whole mode of the unfolding story, its flavor and texture, will be familiar to anyone who has skimmed the five books of Moses.

Led by Richard Clyfton, the Scrooby pilgrims set off on foot in the autumn of 1607 for the town of Boston, a journey of sixty or so miles. In secrecy, they boarded a ship for the Continent, only to find themselves turned away by the captain, who hoped for greater compensation. They returned to Scrooby, where several of them were arrested. But no trial was forthcoming, and these quiet Christians were soon freed, as their jailers could hardly believe they posed much of a threat to the community. A few months later, they tried to get away again and succeeded, taking a ship from a port near Hull. This was not an easy journey, with all sorts of dangers looming, including the threat of discovery: it was illegal to travel abroad without formal documents. The ship made its way into the North Sea, where dark waters nearly overturned the vessel. Yet they arrived in Holland in one piece, and others from Scrooby followed, finding illegal passage on other ships. Now they had to contend with a land where English was not spoken and where living conditions were harsh.

Bradford puts the journey of the Scrooby congregation in context, recalling earlier migrations to the Continent in search of religious freedom, quoting from the famous Book of Martyrs of John Foxe (1517-87). Under Queen Mary, a Roman Catholic who burned many Protestants at the stake, Foxe and others like him took up residence in a range of European cities, including Frankfurt, Geneva, and Basel, where Foxe originally published his book in Latin. Bradford glosses over nothing, recalling the bickering that took place among his fellow exiles over matters of dogma. He also puts this bickering in context. "And this contention died not with Queen Mary," he says, "nor was left beyond the seas" (5).

One goal of Bradford's generation of exiles was to ensure "the right worship of God and discipline of Christ established in the church, according to the simplicity of the gospel, without the mixture of men's inventions" (4). Bradford hoped to get back to basics, as preached by his mentor Richard Clyfton, "a grave and reverend preacher," as well as by John Robinson and William Brewster. What the latest band of pilgrims found in Holland, however, was hardly the promised land of Canaan, although Bradford skips rapidly over what happened on arrival in Amsterdam, where the English Separatists joined Puritan exiles from different places.

As often happens among isolated groups of exiles, conflicts arose. The various sects were in disarray, with any number of accusations flying about. There was, for example, a group called the Ancient Brethren, who battled each other with shocking displays of bad temper. One figure of note was Thomas White, a minister from the west of England who had arrived with a dozen followers. White's flock briefly worshipped with the Brethren, but were soon repulsed by their acrimony. They pulled away from the Brethren, whom White himself viewed as "rash, heady, and contentious." He actually called the Brethren "a brokerage of whores," alluding to accusations of incest and adultery in a diatribe that was widely circulated. Bradford skips rather briskly over these conflicts. After a year, he and his group migrated to Leyden, "a fair and beautiful city." There he picks up the story with renewed energy.

Leyden was the home of a major university, a place where religious debates flourished, and the English Separatists spent a dozen years there. Yet they felt isolated from the local population and could not make a decent living despite their talents for handicrafts and trades. Poverty and poor living conditions were perhaps the main reasons for putting everything at stake by traveling to the New World, although Bradford prefers a political explanationthe Netherlands had forged a truce with Roman Catholic Spain that was about to end, in 1621. "The Spaniard might prove as cruel as the savages of America," Bradford writes, "and the famine and pestilence as sore here as there, and their liberty less to look out for remedy" (28).

North America was not the ideal destination for every Separatist, as Bradford recalls. The Amazon and other tropical regions attracted some, who imagined them as places "rich, fruitful, and blessed with a perpetual spring and a flourishing greenness" (29). But the Spaniards had been on the march in those areas as well. Furthermore, who could say what local dangers lay in store in hot regions, including the threat of disease? Virginia, on the other hand, was a familiar climate, and the Pilgrims hoped they would not be persecuted as Separatists there as they had been in England. To reassure themselves, they petitioned the Virginia Company in advance of their departure and were kindly answered, though they eventually settled on the "more northerly parts of that country, derived out of the Virginia patent and wholly secluded from their Government, and to be called by another name, viz., New England." This latter name, which stuck, was first used by Captain John Smith in his Description of New England (1616), an account of his travels to that part of the New World in 1614.

“Eclectic. . . . Illuminating. . . . [Parini] tells us we’re more literary than we might think, that in fact our culture is in part the product of literature that has become so embedded as to be almost invisible.”—The Seattle Times

“Anyone who has ever wondered if books can make a difference will be fascinated and encouraged by Promised Land, Jay Parini’s incisive reading of thirteen books that changed our country forever and helped create the nation in which we live today.”—Francine Prose

“Parini’s book seeks to restore our faith in the American character. . . . He reminds us that we too are part of a long legacy of radical thinkers and doers. We are of a lineage of everyday revolutionaries who constantly challenge the status quo, and are thus called to continue our quest to animate our ideas into a national reality.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

“Delightful. . . . Well-rounded. . . . Parini has a special gift to somehow locate common strands in the disparate works that make this collection.”—Chicago Sun-Times

“This is the kind of book that is fun to ponder, for what it says about us, as Americans, and the sort of question it implicitly provokes each of us to ask: What books helped to shape our own lives and our own historical moment?”—The San Diego Union-Tribune

“Very smart.”—Chicago Tribune

“Like watching a time-lapse film of cultural evolution—with the perennial motifs of American life changing colors and sprouting the odd appendage over the course of two centuries.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Parini distills books to their very essence . . . and he expands the way their ideas have rippled outward in time. . . . Promised Land is a provocative, perfect topic for reading groups, as well as a guide to additional reading.”—The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

“Parini is a congenial companion through some touchstone books. . . . Each chapter walks the reader through the book in question and offers a patient, informed discussion of its author, historical context, and repercussions. . . . A tour through Parini’s 13 books is thus an examination of the preoccupations and myths that constitute American identity.”—The Chronicle of Higher Education

“An effective, economical way to survey American history and culture. . . . Would make an excellent starting point for a college course.”—Los Angeles Times

“Parini is a literary Renaissance man. . . . What makes his writing so engaging is the learning, critical acumen and insight he brings to bear on each book.”—Guelph Mercury (Ontario)

“Parini is known for tackling big subjects. . . . Readable, insightful, and provocative, Promised Land is a good companion to our cultural history, beckoning us to read or reread America’s watershed texts . . . through our current political, cultural and environmental lenses. Most of all, it renews our awareness of the power and value of words. . . . Engaging and refreshing.”—The Lexington Herald-Leader (Kentucky)

“With these 13 remarkable selections, Parini has provided a fantastic shortcut to understanding who we are, where we come from and who we believe we are.”—Lebanon Daily News (Pennsylvania)

“Reading Jay Parini’s wonderful new book, Promised Land, I was reminded of Gore Vidal’s observation that we live in the United States of Amnesia. Here is the sovereign cure for our amnesia, the story of our enlightenment and transcendentalist roots, told through the texts of our most life-changing books. Read Promised Land and remember that the greatness of America comes from our enlightenment ideals—often more honored in the breach than the observance. A vital text for the renewal of our country.”—Erica Jong

From the Publisher

Poet, novelist and literary critic Parini (The Last Station) examines the books he believes represent the soul of the American republic. Some of these books are masterpieces, others icons of a moment in American history. Throughout, Parini makes his case while wearing his learning lightly. All of these works, from William Bradford's Of Plymouth Plantation to Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, had a profound impact on America's complex identity. The evolving American dynamic is noted in the way the subjects cluster: the American experiment (The Federalist Papers); exploration of a continent (The Journals of Lewis and Clark); a new connection with nature and self (Walden); issues of race and urban ethnicity (Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Souls of Black Folk, among others); business and its opposite, the counterculture (How to Win Friends and Influence People and On the Road). A terrific chapter explores Dr. Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care("Spock said no to no"). A listing of 100 additional books with seismic impact rounds out this engaging discussion, which ought to be on the syllabus of American studies courses. (Nov. 4)

Poet, novelist, critic, and biographer Parini (Benjamin's Crossing; Why Poetry Matters) here offers a chronologically organized array of meaty, semischolarly, but not stuffy essays about 13 American books that, in his mind, have done the most to change America, from Of Plymouth Plantation to Uncle Tom's Cabin to The Feminine Mystique. Every reader of American literature will doubtless object to one or more of Parini's omissions (e.g., The Great Gatsby; An American Tragedy; The Scarlet Letter), to say nothing of his exclusion of plays and poems-the first because he doesn't consider them books, the second because, he writes, aside from Walt Whitman, Robert Frost, and Sylvia Plath, they "rarely have a discernible effect on the public." Parini does include an appendix titled "One Hundred More Books That Changed America." The essays about the 13 central books are roughly 25 pages each and contain four parts: Parini discusses briefly the book's importance to American culture, describes the writer, renders the book in detail, and, finally, explains its impact. Parini writes for a general audience and shows a warming enthusiasm for his subjects. Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ6/1/08.]Charles C. Nash

Library Journal

A baker's dozen of titles that have altered the course of history. The 13 "winners" include the expected (Walden, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), the indisputable (The Federalist Papers, The Journals of Lewis and Clark), the pleasant surprise (Dr. Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care) and the capricious (How to Win Friends and Influence People). With this last, readers of The Art of Teaching (2005) will recognize another tribute to the influence of Dale Carnegie in Parini's youth. Each chapter has the same structure: an introduction, some background on the writer and the book, a summary of the text (15 pages or so being too long for some of them) and a discussion of the work's legacy. The Promised Land (1912), for example, spawned an entire genre of literature written about the immigrant experience, stretching into the present with Frank McCourt, Amy Tan and Sandra Cisneros. Parini (English and Creative Writing/Middlebury Coll.) is usually generous, although Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique takes some shots. (He finds it on occasion "cursory and reductive.") The author also aims some pokes at the current Bush Administration, at minister Joel Osteen ("one of the shallowest of current hucksters") and at Bill Clinton. Parini does not always work sufficiently hard to eliminate cliches; we read about a work's "sheer impact"; we learn how Friedan, in college, "spread her wings." Still, his analysis of the racial controversy about Huckleberry Finn is illuminating and wise; his discussion of Of Plymouth Plantation, invigorating. A point not much discussed: Will books ever again so greatly affect our ever-more-nonliterate society? Perhaps anticipating snarls of displeasureabout omissions, the author offers a lightly annotated appendix, "One Hundred More Books That Changed America."Admittedly formulaic, but also learned, educative and even provocative. Agent: Geri Thoma/Elaine Markson Agency

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

I discovered this book through a snippet of a radio interview with the author several weeks ago. The concept of looking at American cultural development from the Pilgrims to present day through 13 diverse books is compelling.
This book is astounding. Not only do you get a brief but broad look at American History and the currents of thought that run through our last 400 years, but the literary analysis is wonderful. From The Federalist Papers to Huckleberry Finn to Dr. Spock's child care book, Mr. Parini gives you an upfront seat to the authors, their lives, the immediacy of the world in which they lived. Best of all, despite Mr. Parini's obvious erudition, the writing is clear, breezy and accessible.
This should be required reading for High School American History and American Literature courses. I love it.

TheBentley on LibraryThing

More than 1 year ago

I really enjoyed this book. It seems to read much faster than it really does because it moves along quickly. Parini's bias is a little more evident than it probably should be, and when it isn't, it's largely because he's acting as apologist for the books he's chosen (like Huck Finn, for instance) that are widely criticized by scholars on the left. It's well worth the read, if not so much for the literary criticism, then certainly for the cultural history. Certainly, there are lessons here pertinent to every American.

“This is one of those times, a time choked in the weeds of academic and
civilian formalism. To put it mildly, most of what we see in print in North America is unbearably trivial and singularly devoid of courage.”Andrei Codrescu, ...

Presents 5 realistic adventure stories in each low-readability book that invite students to make choices
that may have faced them and their families Covers the eras of exploration, colonization, wars, slavery, immigration, the Depression, and even space flight Includes student ...

A masterful retelling of a legend and famous headline of modern American history—Harry Truman’s upset
victory over Thomas E. Dewey in the 1948 presidential election. Set in Dewey’s hometown of Owosso, Michigan, this is the captivating story of a local ...

An intimate, authorized yet totally frank biography of Gore Vidal (1925–2012), one of the most
accomplished, visible, and controversial American novelists and cultural figures of the past century The product of thirty years of friendship and conversation, Jay Parini’s Empire of ...

New America Wakening fifty years into the future, Simon and the crew of the Katherine,
must again try to stop an unseen enemy. Conflict is everywhere, as Simon once again tries to convince his own race to help him. Confused ...

In this innovative and wide-ranging book, Byatt and the psychoanalyst Ignes Sodre bring their different
sensibilities to bear on six novels they have read and loved: Jane Austen's Mansfield Park, Bronte's Villette, George Elliot's Daniel Deronda, Willa Cather's The Professor's ...

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are
now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Book One contains Episodes 1-3......It's the near future, and the next big thing is already
here. Smartphones, tablets, even TVs have been replaced by Butler watches, your own digital personal assistant who knows you intimately. Billed by genius-inventor Jeff Meyers ...